Interviews | in the halls of awaiting | legacy magazine
Due to being the first report about INSOMNIUM would you like to tell me something about the history of the band, the meeting of the single members together (have there been any other bands worth to be mentioned that you joined before?), founding the band, changing of members and stuff like that. Are there any bands beside INSOMNIUM that you are playing in? How would you describe the difference between the two demos and “In The Halls Of Awaiting”? What´s the main evolution and progress to mention?
Ville Friman: - We started Insomnium in the spring of year 1997. We were going in the same highschool and one day Niilo Sevänen (Bassist&vocalist) asked me (guitars) and Markus Hirvonen (drums) to join to new just founded metal band. All went well musically and we came also great along personally and became soon best friends. We practised a lot and entered to the studio for the first time in the spring 1999 and recorded our first demo. Year after that we did the second one and send it among other labels to the Candlelight. They contacted us and in the spring 2001 and we made 4 record deal with them. We have all played in varios band before Insomnium but I think they’re not worth to mention here. However Niilo sings and our second guitarist, Ville Vänni, plays guitar in the band called Watch Me Fall. They have also made one record which was released about year ago. Besides Insomnium I play guitar also in a avant-dark metal band Arrival and we released our debut “An Abstaract Of Inertia” few months ago and I think it should be soon released in Germany too. Concerning the difference between our debut and demos…Well demos were done in hurry in few days and for the album we got almost a month for studio time. For the demos we tried to think entity consisting of 4 songs and for the album we had to concentrate for bigger wholeness. I mean because we had little studio time for demos we couldn’t record any 10 minute long songs for them and I guess it may not have been that wise either because we wanted to get a proper record deal. For the second demo we tried to create vigorous 4 song package which would give right picture from our talents and musical direction. For the album we had more freedom to express ourselves and I think that can be heard especially from our longer songs. We want to make as good music as possible and versatility is one of the many including keywords.
You are looking very young on the cd´s photo, compared to an “old fart” like me (I´m 36…) - do you have any explanation, why there are so many musicians in Scandinavia having that enormous talent and musical abilities in tecnics and songwriting despite their youth?
Ville Friman: - Well I guess we look young too. I’m soon 22 years old like Markus and the rest of the guys are 23 years old. I have played guitar now just 6 years and all the other members have got their instruments little bit younger. I’m not sure of the answer for your question. I mean we play a lot and start band activity when we are quite young in Finland but I don’t know how’s the situation in the other bands and I can’t talk for them. Concerning Insomnium I guess we’re quite mature and reasonable people and that reflects to our music :) I mean we have never thought that we’re going to be huge rock stars and counted our living for it. We all study and do our band at the sametime and I guess it helps when you get more diverse view from life. We’re very realistic and just do our own thing. It’s great when music is challenging to play and listen, but it have never been our main goal to be hard to understand. I mean music can be challenging and diverse and be still quite easy to listen. Generally I think twenties is the age when most of the people get “mature” and many people feel like 20 years old many decades from that point onward. We get old physically faster than within our minds. So I’m not seeing difference in the maturity of music of 30 old year or 20 year person. 30 year old person have probably more experience in general but not necessary the maturity…
In contrast to other finnish bands, playing musical styles in the vein of a more black- or pagan-metal-influenced way you prefer the Swedish way of Death, mixed with the typical roots of traditional finnish music, shown in riffing and the very melancholic harmonies. Do you have any extra position in the current Finnish scene with your sound? Are there any other bands playing your sound in Finland? What about your contact to other either wellknown finnish bands like maybe Amorphis and especially Sentenced, that once sounded very similar to your musical style (and disappointed me almost completely with their new album, that is something like a longhaired version of HIM), or to all the brilliant upcoming bands like Ensiferum and Moonsorrow, that seem to grow in Finland like the mosquitos in your 1000 lakes?
Ville Friman: - Only Finnish band I can think of which have similar Swedish-Finnish style is Enter My Silence. Though I think they’re more Swedish sounding than we. Many Finnish melodic death metal bands are more in vein of Children Of Bodom especially in the Helsinki area, but we have always been inspired of Scandinavian metal as whole. There are so many good bands in Finland and Sweden. I mean we all like Sentenced an Amoprhis and on the other hand at the same time Dark Tranquillity, Opeth, Katatonia and In Flames just to mention few. We also like many Norwegian bands like Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Arcturus so we we don’t think that much how we sound or where we have been taken the influences. We just sound Insomnium and that’s somewhere there in the middle.
What are your idols and preferenences in sound? Is there any chance for a finnish musician NOT to get influenced by that really typical folk-sounds, or are you part of that roots and history since your first taste of mother´s milk? But in contrast to more and more finnish bands to don´t sing in your own language - what´s the decision behind that? And: you are not on a finnish label like maybe the brilliant Spinefarm. How did you get in touch with Candlelight? Do you think you are fitting in their label concept, that shows in the mainpoint half more dark and half more heavy and avantagardistique bands? Are you content about the deal made?
Ville Friman: - Well concerning the “idols” and the bands I think the most important ones came up in the last answer. We’re from town called Joensuu which locates in the northern Karelia. Those are the same regions from where the Elias Lönnrut collected the poems to the Finnish national epic Kalevala in the 19th century. I think Niilo has got the folk influences from his mother milk already and I think I have had these swedish influences in me from the beginning. My ancestry comes from the north and despite of my surname I’m fully Finnish from every inch though. English language was just natural solution from the beginning for us. We can contact wider audience with that language and I think it suits better for “singing”. We sent our demos to many labels but Spinefarm never showed any interest towards our music or band. Candlelight haves many different kinds of bands, but when I was sending the demos to labels I thought that as Opeth did 3 records for the Candlelight it may not be that impossible that they could get interested in us too. And after 6 months from that day they did. I think it’s good that they have many different kind of bands. I mean I like Morbid Angel and Haunted even the’re quite different bands an buy them both. What I’m saying that there’s room for variety bands as long as the label knows how to market them all.
How is a song by INSOMNIUM born? Who writes the songs, who the lyrics?
Ville Friman: - Me and Niilo write all the songs and lyrics. We do melodies, parts and riffs in our homes and bring whole pieces or bits to the rehealsals where we arrange them to their final phase together. It’s quite long process and it’s hard work to get all things to work out but I think in the end its worth of it. Anyway we enjoy very much of making music and playing it and we want to do it as good as we are able to. We’re democratic band and every members point of view counts. Markus does most of the drumming arrangements by himself as we just give him direction and Ville Vänni helps lots in the guitar arrangements and affects a lot to them. Insomniums music is then outcome from all of its members.
What´s the idea behind the band´s name? My first thought was something like a new gothic-metal-outfit, especially referring to the cover, that has a very romantic and gloomy atmosphere. The Halls Of Awaiting - is this just another word for our planet earth, and we all are waiting to leave it again? What do you wanna express by that?
Ville Friman: - Word Insomnium is latin one and it has this double meaning: nightmare/insomnia. The name suits well for our band as our lyrics usually deal with sorrowful and dreamlike tales of longing, despair and anxiety.
Are there any plans made for touring or playing at least several shows in maybe some festivals in Europe this year? Will there be a chance to see INSOMNIUM live? Who would be the perfect partner-in-crime, if you would have free choice?
Ville Friman: There are just one confirmed gig in Finlands Pellavarock for this summer but nothing more yet. We would like to come Europe as soon as possible, but it still depends from many things like how well we’ll going to sell our debut and so on. We’re still quite unknown band so it takes time that people and festival organizers will knowdist us. But I’m sure you will see Insomnium live in Europe in the future! I think there are so many good bands that I’m not able to pick one to tour with. Maybe a festival :) Seriously Opeth would be great band since I’m big fan of them!
Martin
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